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Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

nytimes.com

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Re: Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

#161

Post by pastor_elm »

graeme wrote: post #155
pastor_elm wrote: post #139

One of the reasons I refuse to workout in a gym. Would love to see what the numbers are for a rush hour subway car in NYC. Can imagine it's a great way to juice your brain before the start of a workday.

Any idea what typical gym numbers are? I would have guessed they aren't as bad as office buildings, as they are large spaces and generally have ventilation systems. I'll bring my co2 monitor when I try the new gym in my neighbourhood though.

I would imagine it depends on the ventilation system. Not all gyms choose to invest in installing something high quality.

Re: Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

#162

Post by charlieo88 »

Mistletoe wrote: post #5

I own a CO2 monitor and it is shocking how high it can get in a house with two people just existing. 800 ppm or more. Outside air is 410. In a car with air on recirculate, it was getting to >1220 ppm, a level that impairs decision making and lowers brain function. I try to drive with air on fresh from now on. I don’t doubt the air in our conference room with 20 people gets super high in CO2 as the meeting goes on, an…

For in the car, with the air on fresh, does your monitor indicate the amount of CO as well?

Re: Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

#163

Post by Klathmon »

laythea wrote: post #157
Klathmon wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I picked up a CO2 monitor a while ago myself, and the biggest surprise was having it on in the morning in our bedroom with the doors closed. It was easily over 1000ppm IIRC. Ever since then I've made sure to set my AC system to run the "house fan" for 15 minutes or so every hour at night just to circulate the air in the house, and while the numbers went down significantly, anecdotally I swear that I wake up easier in…

"...high CO2 concentrations in the helmet can be really dangerous to an unconscious person's brain function" Yes but no helmet is even worse for an unconscious person's brain function :)

Oh absolutely! I hope I'm not coming across as advocating for people to not wear helmets!

I just thought it was a very interesting study and that helmet manufacturers could possibly find ways to mitigate it.

Re: Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

#165

Post by LinuxBender »

Every property management company will set the recycled percentage in the HVAC system to a different amount based on climate and budget. In my opinion, folks should bring a Co2 sensor to work and then ask their facilities team to work with property management to lower the recycled air percentage if the ppm is too high.

You can expect them to push back and cite OSHA guidelines [1]

[1] - https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pel88/124-38.html

Re: Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

#166

Post by xur17 »

Klathmon wrote: post #19
Mistletoe wrote: post #5

I own a CO2 monitor and it is shocking how high it can get in a house with two people just existing. 800 ppm or more. Outside air is 410. In a car with air on recirculate, it was getting to >1220 ppm, a level that impairs decision making and lowers brain function. I try to drive with air on fresh from now on. I don’t doubt the air in our conference room with 20 people gets super high in CO2 as the meeting goes on, an…

I picked up a CO2 monitor a while ago myself, and the biggest surprise was having it on in the morning in our bedroom with the doors closed. It was easily over 1000ppm IIRC. Ever since then I've made sure to set my AC system to run the "house fan" for 15 minutes or so every hour at night just to circulate the air in the house, and while the numbers went down significantly, anecdotally I swear that I wake up easier in…

> I picked up a CO2 monitor a while ago myself, and the biggest surprise was having it on in the morning in our bedroom with the doors closed. It was easily over 1000ppm IIRC.

Any recommendations on CO2 monitors?

Re: Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

#167

Post by ars »

fma wrote: post #160
gugagore wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you recommend a CO2 monitor? How did you decide to purchase the model that you own?

I have a foobot. https://www.amazon.com/Foobot-Quality-Monitor-Homeowners-Ren... I believe you can hook it up to IFTTT and turn on the AC etc if levels are high. You can get real time stats, historical reporting...If you don't want to keep looking at your mobile device it will light up if the air quality is bad. It also has a VOC monitor, which is rare. I have a new construction house and the VOC was pretty much dead…

Note that that one does not measure CO2.

Re: Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

#168

Post by HuShifang »

Diederich wrote: post #141
GuiA wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s interesting to see how differently first aid is taught across countries. Eg the last training I did in the US (California), I was surprised by two things that I had not encountered when I was trained in France: - a big concern around pathogens - always have gloves with you and put them on when administering first aid especially if the person is bleeding; use a mouth dam for mouth to mouth and if you don’t have o…

Can you expand on your second point, if you have a moment? I knew someone (in California) who crashed his bicycle on a curb in front of a number of people. He picked himself up and had a bloody but minor wound on his arm. But overall he was unharmed, just some surface bleeding. "Of course" multiple people called 911, and an ambulance arrived in short order. He had insurance, but he wasn't interested in getting in an…

Interesting. I'm an American, and once sustained a bloody but minor scrape of my knee when playing basketball in China. I went to the campus clinic/dispensary to obtain some bandages, since I couldn't find any that were the right size at the nearby convenience store; there, the staff practically tried to admit me, telling me that I had sustained a very serious injury and that I needed to take it seriously and start a course of antibiotics. After an awkward conversation concerning my refusal to take antibiotics without (what I deemed to be) sufficient cause (being mindful and wary of the resistance risks of an unnecessary course), and their belief that I was being disrespectful of their medical expertise, I left with a bottle of antibiotic pills that I never took. My knee was as good as new in a week or so.

Point being, medical cultures can differ quite a lot, even from locality to locality, and the differences can be seen even in the handling of minor scrapes.

Re: Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

#169

Post by PeterisP »

em-bee wrote: post #135
GuiA wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s interesting to see how differently first aid is taught across countries. Eg the last training I did in the US (California), I was surprised by two things that I had not encountered when I was trained in France: - a big concern around pathogens - always have gloves with you and put them on when administering first aid especially if the person is bleeding; use a mouth dam for mouth to mouth and if you don’t have o…

what are you supposed to if the person claims they have no insurance?

If the person is able to tell you that they have no insurance, this by itself means they're able to talk reasonably, this means they are conscious and can breathe and so (absent heavy ongoing bleeding e.g. from a gunshot wound) they aren't dying right now - so urgent emergency healthcare isn't really required.

If they can move on their own, then they can get to the clinic of their choice themselves if and when they choose to; if they can't (which can be caused by anything from a sprained ankle to a fractured hip) then they still may prefer to be delivered to the hospital by family&friends or a taxi instead of paying thousands for an ambulance delivery.

Re: Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

#170

Post by MichaelDickens »

xur17 wrote: post #166
Klathmon wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I picked up a CO2 monitor a while ago myself, and the biggest surprise was having it on in the morning in our bedroom with the doors closed. It was easily over 1000ppm IIRC. Ever since then I've made sure to set my AC system to run the "house fan" for 15 minutes or so every hour at night just to circulate the air in the house, and while the numbers went down significantly, anecdotally I swear that I wake up easier in…

> I picked up a CO2 monitor a while ago myself, and the biggest surprise was having it on in the morning in our bedroom with the doors closed. It was easily over 1000ppm IIRC. Any recommendations on CO2 monitors?

I don't have any domain knowledge on CO2 monitors, but I use this one: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FYWU2IS/

It's a greenhouse CO2 monitor, which is the most common kind. I've heard that they're not as accurate as CO2 monitors that are designed for humans, but those tend to be much more expensive.

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